Retrieval devices are often used to remove organic material (e.g., blood clots, tissue, and biological concretions such as urinary, biliary, and pancreatic stones) and inorganic material (e.g., components of a medical device or other foreign matter), which may obstruct or otherwise be present within a patient's body cavities or passages. For example, concretions can develop in certain parts of the body, such as in the kidneys, pancreas, ureter, and gallbladder. Minimally invasive medical procedures are used to remove these concretions through natural orifices, or through an incision, such as during a percutaneous nephrolithotomy (“PNCL”) procedure. Retrieval devices are also used in lithotripsy and ureteroscopy procedures to treat urinary calculi (e.g., kidney stones) in the ureter of a patient.
Ureteroscopy, for example, may be performed to diagnose and treat urinary tract diseases and ureteral strictures. A ureteroscope may be inserted retrograde through the urinary tract such that diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract abnormalities may be performed. Current flexible ureteroscopes require two hands to control the ureteroscope. Usually, the dominant hand will hold the handle of the ureteroscope while the non-dominant hand holds the distal portion of the ureteroscope as it enters the urethral meatus. If the medical professional determines there is a need to insert a tool such as a basket, grasper, or forceps through the working channel of the scope, he or she is left to either remove the non-dominant hand from the urinary meatus or instruct an assistant to hold the tool handle.
Removing their hand from the urinary meatus, however, removes the medical professional's ability to control the depth of the scope's insertion into the urinary meatus. On the other hand, if the medical professional opts to instruct an assistant to control the medical tool, for example, a basket, communication between the medical professional and assistant must be exact and clear, otherwise, the assistant may be required to perform multiple attempts at grasping a stone or other material before successfully capturing the stone or other material within the basket. Multiple attempts frequently result in damaged baskets, increased risk of damage to the patient's surrounding tissue, and increased time of procedure, among others.
In addition, conventional ureteroscopes are designed to be held in the vertical or upright position which necessitates that the medical professional tightly flex his or her arm at the elbow to bring their forearm parallel to their body and bend their wrist outward to grasp the ureteroscope. Distal tip scope deflection may be achieved via an actuator on the proximal end of the scope by the medical professional's index finger or thumb. As the medical professional rotates the ureteroscope, he or she may experience wrist angulation resulting in painful symptoms similar to those of carpal tunnel. Holding the ureteroscope in such an upright position may also interfere with the medical professional's intuitive connection between the motion of their hand, and the resultant motion of a distal tip of the ureteroscope. It also precludes them from controlling the depth and rotation of any instrument inserted into the ureteroscope and the depth of the scope at the same time. End deflection and scope rotation is controlled by the dominant hand. The assistant manages the mechanical actuation of the instrument (opening and closing of graspers, baskets, scissors, loops, etc.).
The systems and methods of the current disclosure may rectify some of the deficiencies described above.